Sunday run - 6km

this morning was great. Lisa met me at the goodwill bridge at southbank and we ran the 6k city loop from there. Lisa was lovely, and so nice of her to run with me - I'm sure if I wasn't there she would have gone further and faster! We chatted the whole way - mostly about running!!! Well, I should probably say Lisa did most of the chatting while I did most of the panting!! I found it quite hard to talk and run at the same time!!

I ran most of the way. Had to stop and walk at the top of the story bridge because I got a stitch ... again. Seems to always come at about the same time into a run - around the 20 minute mark - always in exactly the same spot. Probably because I was too busy trying to talk than concentrate on my breathing! Managed to get it to go away enough to continue running. It popped up again on the home stretch, but I didn't worry about it as we were close to the end.

Lovely morning for a run - no rain though :(!!! Looks like we might get some this afternoon though, which would be nice.

The 6km took us 44 minutes. I'd love to be able to say it wasn't as long, but I know speed isn't everything.

Frustratingly this morning was still a real mental battle for me. Even running along side someone, I was talking to myself in my head at about the 5k mark - trying to convince myself I didn't need to or want to walk, that I could keep going blah blah blah ... the old lazy sarah is still in there and sometimes it's a real fight to convince myself that I can run that far/that long. I know that physically I am capable, but mentally I'm suck a sook! We're going again in a fortnight, so that's something to work towards.

I'm going to sign myself up for the 5k fun run at Sanctuary Cove on the 15th of April. I want to do a few little races like that before the GC event so I'm not lining up on the start line for the first time for the 10k race. I can imagine I'd be quite nervous, so want to get used to the atmosphere, even though I'm sure Sanctuary cove will bo nowhere near as big or exciting as the GCM. Lisa said I'd have to buy myself a CR top so I have a cheersquad!!

My knees have been quite sore since the run this morning. Last week I asked my trainer at the gym for some low impact exercises to strengthen my knees - he showed me a couple focussing on the VMO and ankle stability, I'll have to get into those this week. If anyone else has any other suggestions (aside from not run) then I'd love to hear them.

I think it's time for new shoes. My shins have been pulling up a bit tender the last few runs - I've been trying to ignore it, but don't want to make the problem worse. I'm putting off getting new shoes because 'A' will have a complete meltdown if I tell him I want to spend significant money on new shoes when my current pair are in his eyes perfectly capable of doing the job (they're a pair of asics gels and are about 6 mths old ... so time for an upgrade I think). This week I floated the idea of joining a running club by him and his response was that running should be free and I wan't allowed to spend money on running!!! har har!!!!

PT and cardio at the gym on Monday - next run, Tuesday morning.

I have a busy week this week. My little guy turns 4 on Thursday and we're doing a party at our place on Saturday - we have about 15 kids coming, plus parents, so it's going to be pretty full on. I'm in the process of making a pinata, 3 more layers of paper to go on that, I have to make cupcakes for him to take to kindy on Thursday, then the party on Saturday. A Lightning McQueen cake has been requested ... so no doubt my week will be consumed by shopping for b'day presents, party food, preparing games etc etc ... Not sure how much gym I'll squeeze in, but will aim for 3 runs ... wish me luck!!!!